Talk:Sawamura Eijun/@comment-204.14.239.107-20160203193036/@comment-204.14.239.107-20160205163812
I agree that Eijun will probably eventually get the Ace number, though I find it unrealistic unless Furuya suffers an injury. The level of talent they have shown Furuya having is not something that hardwork would be able to realistically overcome, especially if they are both doing the same or a similar training regimine. In real life, the pitch combo that gets the most strike outs is two fastballs and a breaking ball. Furuya has been shown to have a far superior fastball. That is why power pitchers are prized and usually starters. Remember, they have his fastball pitch being as fast a an American MLB pitcher would pitch, 154 kilo/ml or 95 mph, which is like Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens speed (more than slightly unrealistic for a high schooler but whatever). Additionally the two hardest types of fastballs to hit, generally, are rising fastballs (spin makes them appear to rise slightly and roles them off the bat makeing them pop up) and splitters (massive drop causes them to fall below where the batter expects them. Both of those happen to be Furuya's pitches. The other being the change-up, which there is theoretically no reason he can't learn. Height makes a huge difference in most sports as well and the 3 inch difference that will likely (if they were real people) become larger, would make a huge difference in stretch (ability to cover a larger area for defense), speed of pitch, angle of pitch (coming from a higher angle makes them harder not to pop up especially with fastballs, which is why tall pitchers are favored), sprinting speed (longer legs mean less steps, which is why most sprinters are taller than distance runners), batting strenght and accuracy (taller pitchers would be less effective against him and longer arms mean a longer connect range), ect. Now I realize in the show they have frequently had very short players being the best at some of these tasks which is not very realistic. As for how the team treats them, in sense, yes, Furuya is favored as a player for his skill. He has more strike outs, and no run innings under his belt. The team has more trust in him (something important for them to have in their Ace). However, they are much friendlier to Eijun. There rarely seems to be the level of support, cheering, chatter, or interaction with Furuya and the rest of the team other than Miyuki. Some of this is probably a narative convention since Eijun is the main character. However to me they may prefer Furuya on the mound but they like Eijun better. It's sort of like Chris vs. Miyuki. They like Miyuki as the catcher because he is a great player but they prefered Chris's company as a person because Miyuki is kind of a dick. It makes sense, because Eijun is a more personable character than Furuya, who seems to have borderline aspergers. To me, Miyuki is the brains of the team, Furuya is the hand, and Eijun is the heart. I don't know, I guess it is wishful thinking as a reader, that for once a sports story isn't going to be about how an underdog unrealistically defeats a giant of much greater talent.